Tuesday, August 5, 2003

"You're Rick Klau?"

There’s knowing who you are and there’s knowing who you are. As Governor Dean showed up at the rally tonight, the throng immediately surrounded him. The energy was palpable.

Standing just behind the scrum was campaign manager Joe Trippi. I stepped back – “Joe — I’m the guy who’s been helping Mathew with the blog.”

Blank stare.

“I’m Rick Klau.”

“No way! You’re Rick Klau? You ROCK!” I then got a bear hug from Joe Trippi.

That the campaign manager for the frontrunning presidential campaign not only knows who I am but is actually appreciative of my volunteer work is nothing short of amazing.

My visibility (such as it is) to the campaign is a direct result of this weblog. In much the same way that the Dean campaign is giving individual voters a voice on a national stage, weblogs are just one more way an individual can have an impact on the national stage in a remarkable way.

I 100% agree with Matt. You're being way too modest. Like you said before, this campaign isn't about the Internet -- it's about community. But that community started for me (and continues to be stengthened by) Dean's web presence -- which for me started first through Meetup and then through the unofficial blogs like yours and then the official blog. Thanks for that.

The mainstream media are still pretty clueless about the nature of the Dean campaign. They are used to focusing on the single personality, the characteristics of the individual candidate. It's going to take them a while to realize that they are dealing with a whole new animal here-a revved-up democratic movement, a collective awakening, a determination to invigorate the political culture such as we've never seen before. This thing rocks.

Rick, Joe isn't the only one who thinks you ROCK! and knows your name. The work you do, to make the work we do work, is working, so keep up the good work. (I kinda like that convoluted sentence, but I haven't had enough coffee yet) Thanks for helping us take our country back.

I think Joe Trippi is running a brilliant campaign. He seems to have his pulse on the people of this country and he has tapped into their anger and frustration. One of the main reasons Al Gore lost (let's face it, he only had to carry his own state to win the election outright) was because he ran a really poor campaign and ran away from his own and Clinton's record. Joe Trippi understands that and has capitalized on Dean's honesty and bulldog attitude. You won't see Dean shrinking from anything. He is a LEADER!